Beasley Allen Fails To Overturn J&J Talc Disqualification

By Adrian Cruz

A New Jersey federal judge affirmed the Beasley Allen Law Firm's disqualification from multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder on Tuesday, determining that the firm has failed to provide a valid reason to back its attempt at a stay and temporary reinstatement into the matter.

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Late Notice Dooms Heat Pad Maker's Fed. Court Removal Bid

By Lauraann Wood

Heating pad maker Sunbeam Products must litigate an Illinois customer's burn suit in state court where it was initially filed, because 29 days was too long to wait before telling the state court it removed the case, a federal judge ruled.

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Zillow's Chicago Home Listings Restored In Antitrust Case

By Nate Beck

An Illinois federal judge temporarily restored Zillow's access to some 40,000 Chicago-area home listings that the company argued were wrongly withheld by Compass and a multiple listing service after the platform sought to enforce a ban on posts broadcast first on the private market.

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Schools Fight New Lead Counsel, Cert. In Aid-Fixing Suit

By Celeste Bott

Five private universities that have yet to settle with students over the alleged fixing of financial aid offerings argued Tuesday that an Illinois federal judge should deny them class certification rather than allow them to tap different lead counsel after misrepresentations regarding one firm's purportedly contingent casework have come to light.

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Sonrai's $59M Trade Theft Verdict Trimmed To $10.4M

By Elliot Weld

An Illinois federal judge has reduced a $59 million jury verdict won by garbage truck maker Sonrai Systems to $10.4 million in a case over a rival company poaching a Sonrai executive, finding that while the evidence showed the rival's behavior was reprehensible, it didn't merit the amount the jury awarded.

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AGs Say House Child Safety Bill Weakens States' Authority

By Susan Smiley

A group of 44 attorneys general for states including California, New York, New Jersey and Michigan have created a coalition opposing the House version of the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act, H.R. 7757, and signed a letter to congressional leaders pointing out the shortcomings of the bill.

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Chinese Bank Hit With Suit Claiming Reinsurance Fraud

By Joyce Hanson

A company and its insurer have accused China Construction Bank Corp. of issuing fraudulent letters of credit valued at nearly $10 million, claiming in Illinois federal court that the country's largest bank has refused to honor reinsurance agreements the parties signed.

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Conn. Tribes Seek Role In CFTC Betting Preemption Fight

By Aislinn Keely

The Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on Tuesday moved to intervene in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's suit over Connecticut regulators' attempts to shut down certain prediction markets.

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Microsoft Says Teams Info Not 'Voiceprint' Under BIPA

By Ben Adlin

Microsoft has urged a Washington federal judge to throw out a proposed class action from Illinois residents who claim the company's Teams software wrongfully creates biometric "voiceprints" of meeting participants, arguing that its "routine transcription functions" don't count as voiceprints because they're not personally identifying.

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Justices Rebuff Ohio Freight Broker Case After Montgomery

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rebuffed Ohio-based freight broker Total Quality Logistics LLC's bid to invoke federal law to shield it from state-based negligence and personal injury claims over a fatal 2019 accident.

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How The High Court Expanded Freight Broker Liability

After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that freight brokers may be liable for selecting unsafe motor carriers, the key question will be whether brokers used reasonable care in selecting a given motor carrier, with the concurring opinion offering some clues as to what reasonable care might look like, says Marc Blubaugh at Benesch.

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Wiley Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

By Christine DeRosa

Wiley Rein LLP has been hit with a proposed class action accusing the Washington, D.C., firm of negligence after the firm said a group that may be affiliated with the Chinese government accessed emails of firm personnel.

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Quinn Emanuel Sues To Collect $1.5M From Binance's Zhao

By Caroline Simson

Quinn Emanuel has filed suit in Washington, D.C., against former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump last fall, asking the court to enforce an arbitral award of nearly $1.5 million in unpaid attorney fees and other costs.

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Trump Admin Wants Federal Workers To Sign NDAs, Citing Leaks

By Bonnie Eslinger

President Donald Trump's administration ​on Tuesday announced that it wishes to require federal employees with access to sensitive government information to sign a nondisclosure agreement, citing recent leaks related to immigration enforcement operations and the release of personal information belonging to approximately 4,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees.

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SPLC Says DOJ Indictment Is Baseless 'Retributive Campaign'

By Hailey Konnath

The Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday asked an Alabama federal court to throw out the Trump administration's indictment claiming it paid extremist group informants to "stoke racial hatred," arguing that it's a "top-down, retributive campaign" that constitutes vindictive prosecution.

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3rd Circ. Disapproves Of Judge's Quips In Fatal Crash Case

By Y. Peter Kang

The Third Circuit on Tuesday scolded a Pennsylvania federal judge for his "inappropriate attempted witticisms" while presiding over a lawsuit in which a parent blamed transportation companies for the deaths of his two children in a highway collision, saying the judge's "ill-conceived attempts at levity" in a fatal injury case could be misinterpreted by the public.

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Justices Order Redo In Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a Fourth Circuit order that had revived the immigration judges union's challenge to restrictions on their ability to speak publicly, finding the lower court abused its discretion by relying on arguments not raised by either party, and ordered further proceedings.

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Brief

Justices To Consider Taking Judge Newman Case On June 11

By Emily Sawicki

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether to take up U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's petition seeking to overturn her suspension from the Federal Circuit on June 11, according to a notice posted Tuesday.

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Comey Case Delayed Due To 'Gravity' Of Charges, Discovery

By Phillip Bantz

A North Carolina federal judge on Tuesday granted former FBI Director James Comey's unopposed request to postpone his arraignment and trial on charges he threatened President Donald Trump with a social media post of seashells, finding that ongoing discovery and the "gravity of the charges" favor an extension and "outweigh" any interests in having a speedy trial.

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Copyright Suits Against Jan. 6 Attys Won't Be Tossed

By Jared Foretek

Attorneys who represented Jan. 6 defendants will have to face a consultant's claims that they copied her jury-attitude report without permission after a D.C. federal judge rejected their arguments that their conduct fell under fair use and the public's right to access court records.

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Pirro, Blanche Fight DQ Bid In Attempted Assassination Case

By Christine DeRosa

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche are fighting a bid from the California man accused of an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner to disqualify them from handling the case.

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DHS Pauses ICE Home Entries Under Administrative Warrants

By Courtney Bublé

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told a Democratic senator earlier this month he's paused immigration agents' use of administrative warrants to enter private property, but has not officially revoked the controversial policy issued last year.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of cross-border corporate control disputes, merger settlements, startup equity fights, advancement claims and board oversight litigation, while also weighing fallout from high-profile deals involving Microsoft Corp., The Boeing Co. and Nikola Corp.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Cohen Milstein's Brent Johnson

By Matthew Perlman

Brent W. Johnson is helping to pioneer the use of antitrust law to tackle collusion in low-wage labor markets with work that includes representing workers from poultry- and meat-processing plants in a pair of cases that led to more than $600 million in settlements last year.

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